Through the project + Cotton, Peru seeks to position itself in the Latin American cotton chain, relying on the technology blockchain to guarantee the transparency of the production and distribution chain of the textile industry in the region.
As announced through the FAO web portal, the Latin American region is starting a pilot that will be a pioneer in the region in recording information, transaction and tracking of cotton production and transparency in the textile industry, in which it involves to a cooperative of small producers of Peruvian premium cotton made up of approximately 5,200 families, which will be favored with the use of the technology of “block chain”, since this will provide them with transparency, traceability and greater confidence in the value chain.
The International Cooperation program Brazil, FAO supports innovative projects that seek sustainable food development. Together with the Brazilian Cooperation Agency, ABC and the governments of Argentina, Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Haiti, Paraguay, and Peru, have been carrying out the project in seven countries since 2013 + Cotton.
The cooperation project south-south trilateral + Cotton, uses blockchain in cotton production in Peru, within the framework of the event “Accelerating action for the sustainable and circular garment and footwear industry of the future”. This initiative operates in the context of technical assistance provided to the cooperative, in terms of business plan, training in market, information registry, among others.
The Regional Executive Assistant of the project, Ingrid Zabaleta, expresses that this pilot results, “Innovative for family cotton farming, favoring a better competitiveness of Peruvian fiber in the world”.
Likewise, the manager of the cooperative, Ricardo Yarleque, considers this pilot as a “opportunity to reposition the Peruvian raw cotton, which is the finest and longest in the world and, in addition, would help small farmers live a new experience, which adds to those already received previously through the More Cotton project “, he reiterated.
Blockchain & Cotton
According to the medium digital, the pilot is part of a global project Enhancing Traceability and Transparency for Sustainable and Circular Value Chains in Garment and Footwe, carried out jointly by the Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) and the International Trade Center (ITC), with resources of the European Union, where the project + Cotton It is the articulator of the pilot in the region.
There will be 10 tons of sustainable cotton fiber, produced by the Cooperativa Agraria de Servicios Múltiples “Tallan- Chusis”Ltda (Coastach) and which will later be acquired by the Peruvian textile company Creditex, a mini collection of cotton garments will be made where the final consumer will be able to view all the detailed information on the elaboration of the garment: from the seed, disassembling the cotton, to the making of the garment and its commercialization abroad, where blockchain technology will be the endorsement of the traceability of molecular markers on the DNA of the fiber.
According to data collected by the project + Cotton, in the region of Latin America and the Caribbean, almost 80% of cotton production is carried out by family farmers, which is key to the rural economy. In the particular case of Peru, this activity generates direct employment for more than 430 thousand people, of which more than 10 thousand belong to the category of family farmers.
Thus, on the advantages of using blockchain technology, José Ignacio Llosa, stated that:
“We are very enthusiastic about our participation in this pilot plan as we consider that it is becoming increasingly necessary to strengthen traceability mechanisms that give our customers confidence. The high level of integration of our production processes from ginning to garment making, added to blockchain technology, favor the Peruvian cotton production chain ”, stated the General Manager of Creditex.
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